The Prodigal Son
by ZamShazam1995
Summary: Jason reconciles with Bruce and ends up helping Nightwing rescue another poor soul from the Joker and his crowbar. Jason comes home to face another crisis with Tim accepting him. Jason ends up taking bullet for Tim. Can he escape death yet again and still manage to be apart of the family he had lost? Just a little of fluffy Jay/Dick on the side. T for Jason's language. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

I stood on the rooftop above him. He stood erect, and proud. The rain fell around him. He was the dark knight.

I jumped down to him. He saw my helmet and straightened up. I felt like a girlfriend who he had dumped, coming back for more.

"Hood." He nodded to me. Couldn't he see who I had been? That we were once partners? That he had once been my father. All these years, gone.

"Why." I said. I knew under the hood, my emotions would betray me.

"I tried to save you." His voice cracked.

"But you didn't! Ra's saved me and now you want nothing to do with me!" I inched forward, quaking in anger.

"It's not like that." He said softly.

"You replaced me!" I practically screamed. "And where is your little pet now?" The thunder cracked above me.

"No Jason! I tried to save you! For months I was in a hole because you were gone! I wanted to avenge your death so badly. But you know that I can't go there."

"Why? Because I'm not worth it?" I spat at him. "You waited and mourned, but once I came back you decided to turn a cold shoulder."

"You are not Robin anymore. What could I do? You killed people!" His face became guilt-ridden. "You are still my son. I let you leave because I felt that you needed to be on your own."

I pulled off the hood and threw it off the side of the building with all my might.

"You…you." My chest heaved with anger and sadness from the denial and anger. "Why didn't you say anything?"

He ran over to me and held me in his arms. I was not the type for anything like that. But I cried like a child. He had been my father, my mentor. And he had given up on me. He had let me go. I sobbed into his chest. I wanted everything to go back to when we were partners and Ra's hadn't brought me back.

"It's okay Jason." His fingers ran through the white part of my hair while he held me close. "I'm here. I'm sorry."

"I would have done everything! Everything to save you! Had he killed you the way he killed me!" I hiccupped as I heard his chest shake violently.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He knelt down so I was cradled in his lap the way it was when I died. "I couldn't. I'm supposed to show hope…for these people. I couldn't…I'm so sorry Jason." He buried his head in my hair as I cried violently onto his chest. The rain fell ominously, soaking my clothing and his.

"It hurt, so bad. And you didn't do anything." I sobbed, letting it all pour out. I had been young and scared, and my father hadn't come for me.

"I tried, believe me I tried. I didn't want you to turn insane if we put you in the Lazarus Pits. I didn't want you to hunt down and murder the Joker." He cried, I could hear the guilt. "I'm sorry. I should have risked it."

We stayed on that rooftop, curled in this embrace for hours. I sobbed into his chest and I felt the sadness drain out of me. His face was buried in my hair. I felt like a child again, how rash and ignorant I was when I was Robin. So small, and he let the Joker take me from him.

"I won't lose you." He muttered when the morning light made its way over the horizon. I was numb from all the crying, practically unconscious. He carried me to his car and drove me back to the manor.

"So the prodigal son has returned," Alfred commented. It was a strange reference. But it fit. I was the prodigal son. And at last I had returned home.

Bruce tucked me into his bed and kissed my forehead before walking out.

"I won't lose you," He said softly, "Not again."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**

**So I made this one just a bit fluffy because I just love JayXDick. It makes me smile :) Enjoy! Favorite and Review!  
**

* * *

I awoke in a bed of feathers. I was so used to sleeping on the lumpy mattress in my apartment. The comfort brought me back to when Bruce and I lived together before. Then everything got ruined.

It felt odd, being back. I felt like a burden. He had a new Robin, Tim. I tried not to be jealous, I knew if I was still Robin I would be ready to move on my now anyway. But it hurt nonetheless to be replaced.

I tumbled out of the bed and saw my jacket and jeans from last night lying on the rocking chair next to the bed. My mask was there too. My red helmet was probably lying in the middle of some street after I threw it last night.

I tugged on my jeans and threw my jacket back on. It gave me peace. I felt in control with it. It had a strong scent of leather and a burning fire. It calmed me when I wore it. I considered putting the eye mask on, but I felt it would be silly after all that had happened. I ran my hair through my hair. The white part in front was the only distinction between the new me and the Robin I had been. When I looked in the mirror, and I saw that streak, I remembered what I'd been through.

There was always a bloodlust inside me that Bruce never had. It's not that I liked killing people, but I felt that they deserved it. I would kill the ones who destroyed Gotham, who he never did anything about. We would never be a team. He would be my enemy now. I had become a villain to him. He couldn't see I was helping him.

I wandered down the stairs and met Bruce and Alfred in the kitchen. Alfred didn't say a word, I missed him. He and Bruce had been like a family to me, at one time.

"Here," Bruce reached over the kitchen counter and pulled out the hood. "You might want it."

It was cracked and scratched, but it was in one piece. I couldn't help what I was. I was Red Hood. And even though I had reconciled with Bruce, I was still Red Hood.

"Woa. What is this?" A voice tore through the room behind me. Bruce didn't even look.

"Sit down Dick." He gestured to the chair across from us. I did not sit down, everything was too tense.

Dick sat down and didn't bother to take his eye mask off. His Kevlar suit made him look bulkier than he actually was. He had always been a skinny kid. Even when I replaced him.

"Family reunion?" He looked at me. Oh Goodie. Golden Boy was back to judge me, just what I needed.

"We talked last night." Bruce stated, "he stayed with us."

"If you think that you can just join this family like nothing happened," He folded his arms and looked deep in my eyes, "You're wrong."

"I'm not looking to." I hadn't come to find Bruce to reconcile with Nightwing. I didn't need his acceptance.

"Tim is not going to be happy." Dick muttered to Bruce. Bruce nodded. I clenched a fist behind my back. I wanted to make a snarky comment about how he had replaced me, but I didn't feel like dueling it out with Nightwing at the moment.

"Well at least you can help me with something." Dick got up and beckoned me over to the clock with the hidden entrance to the Bat-cave.

I followed him deep down into the cave far from Bruce and Alfred's ears. He led me into the dimly lit room as if nothing had happened while I was gone. The cave looked the same. Except for one new heart-breaking addition.

I walked over to the case holding my old costume. Dick's wasn't there, just mine. I put my hand up to the glass as if picturing Bruce's face when he would look upon it in the few weeks after my death.

"He was really broken up about it." Nightwing looked at the costume, not me. "We all were."

I turned from it, not wanting to talk about it.

"What did you need to show me?" I asked, turning toward the monitors that covered the wall. Dick turned and pulled up a face, a face I knew well.

I could recognize this face out of millions. I would always know this face, and the twist of fear that rang through my very core of my being every time I saw it. I would know everything about this horrible face.

"Joker has escaped again." Nightwing said, betraying no emotion. "Bruce wants to do the usual run around, but I think it's time you had a turn. After all, you might put him out of business for good."

"You want me to kill Joker?" I asked skeptically. It was something that I dreamed about every night.

"I want you to get your revenge. Bruce doesn't know he escaped yet. But I think he has a new target now." Nightwing pulled up a new picture.

This picture I did not know at all. I knew the scene and the pain. I knew the smells and the sounds. But the woman I did not recognize. There was a familiar gleam in her eyes, but I couldn't place it.

"Selina Kyle." Nightwing said. "Joker sent this picture to Bruce early this morning but I hacked into his email before he could read it."

The woman was bloody and a crowbar lay at her feet. The background was of a small warehouse. I knew it well. Nightwing shut off the monitor, I looked at him in surprise.

"It needs to stop Jason." He looked at me. "Bruce won't do anything. And I won't. But you are the only person who will kill. And I wont let him hurt another person. Not like how you were." His gaze lowered and I felt a shudder rise in me as I remembered that day.

"I'm not your little pet assassin." I said briskly. He was toying with me, I felt sure of it.

"If you can't do it for Bruce, do it for me." He took off his eye mask and looked at me with his piercing blue eyes. "Please Jason."

"Why do you care?" I asked, turning from him.

"I know you think that I don't care about you or whatever, but I do." He put his hand on my shoulder. "When you died, he wouldn't leave the cave. He was broken up for so long. I won't let him go through it again. And I know you."

I glared at him suspiciously

"I do. I know that every time you close your eyes you see that day. I know that you are still scared. I know that you probably hate this whole family because when you came back, it seemed like we didn't care. But we did." He stuttered, "I-I did Jason."

"I'll do it." I muttered, looking back into his eyes, "But I can't do it alone. I'm not going in with the sole purpose of killing him. I want to get him transferred to another place, away from Gotham." I choked out.

Nightwing's arms enveloped me and I hugged back. Twice in two days I have been hugged. It must be some sort of record. He held me and I breathed in his sweet scent.


	3. Chapter 3

"You are so confusing, Dick" He laughed as I put my head in my hands.

"Just think of it as a little….experiment." He puts his arm around me. "We just have to make it look like he's dead." When Dick had asked me to kill the Joker I assumed he meant for real. Apparently not. He was a difficult man to understand.

"See, Bruce will forgive you if he thinks you killed him…after all he's done to you." I shook my head.

"What am I supposed to do with him then? Ship him to Metropolis? Let Superman deal with him?" I looked up. Dick shook his head.

"Maybe I can keep him in Bludhaven until we find a better suited place." Nightwing smiled.

"What? In your apartment?" I laughed, "Great idea." I could see the Joker's face at that joke. Being held hostage by the two baby birds.

"Well I think we need to get Selina out of the situation first." Right, she should be the first priority. I nodded and stood up, looking for my mask and hood.

Nightwing handed them to me as he ran his fingers through his hair, putting on his own eye mask. He paused, looking at me putting the cool metal of the helmet over my face.

"…Jason?" He said as I walked over to one of Bruce's motorcycles donned with red paint. It must have been for me. I didn't need any gifts from him, but it was just so sleek. "Thanks, for this." He said, looking at me.

Nightwing was decked in his usual Kevlar black and blue suit. I was never that flashy. I liked my jacket and plain jeans. And he was never one to say thanks, he was much too proud.

"Shut up, Golden Boy." I straddled the motorcycle and revved the engine. Bruce left the keys in the ignition. He was too generous with his toys.

I flew out of the cave with Nightwing at my heels. He followed me through the streets of Gotham. He didn't seem to question it as we drove down to the warehouse district by the docks. Past the docks would be a few small warehouses up on a hill overlooking the bay. That's where he would be. We stopped a block from the buildings and ran up to the doors.

"You take her, I'll deal with him." I muttered when we came to the closest building. He didn't seem to have a problem with that arrangement. I could see his breath come out it little white puffs in the cold air. I drew my gun as we heard a woman's scream cut through the air. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me with worry. I shrugged it off and moved to the door where the scream was.

I heard his laugh from behind the door and I cocked my gun. Nightwing smashed the door open. I ran into the dimly lit room and saw the Joker.

There were no words for the pain that came flooding though my veins. All the blood and the moans from the half-dead. I knew she was hurt, bad. She was like how I was. It was all to familiar.

"You fucking goddamn MONSTER!" I lost all control and I slammed him into the back wall.

"Jason!" Dick called to me in surprise.

"Get her out of here." I said calmly. She was dying. She needed Bruce. She needed someone to love her in her last moments if she died.

"Aww! A family reunion!" the maniac laughed, "Tell me, does it seem familiar?" I rammed my free hand into his jaw, spewing his blood on the floor.

Dick picked up the bloody Catwoman and slammed the door behind him as he left, leaving us alone.

"Did you miss me little bird?" He smiled and nodded to the side. "I even used our little memento." I didn't move my eyes from his, I knew the crowbar was lying next to the bomb that was to our left. I had him pinned, I could kill him if I wanted to.

"You are scum. You are nothing but a bad joke. You can't even kill a person right." I smiled under my hood. "Clowns used to be funny."

"Ouch," He smiled up at me with sarcasm. "I'm just glad we're here again. So many memories." I brought the gun up and pointed it at his temple.

"Yep, so many happy memories." I spit through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to shoot you. That would be too quick. You deserve a bigger finale."

"That a boy!" I stood up and grabbed the crowbar. I tucked the gun in the waistband of my jeans and tossed the crowbar to my other hand, feeling it's strength. I heard Nightwing drive away, getting Catwoman to Alfred.

I rammed it down to his ribcage. He screamed and spit blood onto the floor and on his face.

"Tell me, which hurts more?" I slammed it down onto his chest. "This?" I slammed it down on his stomach, "Or this?"

He spit up blood on the concrete and laughed. He looked me in the eyes. I could feel the pain in my heart. I felt all the neglect and the anger rise up and channel through my arms pummeling him.

I had prayed and cried out for Batman to come and save me, I knew I couldn't myself. I needed my _daddy_. And in the very end, he never came. In my last moments, _he wasn't there_. I left the world and I left this body _alone. _Joker had taken my life, family, sanity, and my happiness. I wasn't even Jason anymore, just the empty soul of a boy in the shell of a man. Everything. He had ripped _everything_ from me. I was just a child. A poor helpless child with nothing but hope. And in my last minutes, he made sure that he could beat that out of me too.

Tears ran down my face as I beat him mercilessly, his body contorted and broken in all the ways mine was. His blood pooled around him the way mine and Selena's did. He would feel the same pain he inflicted on me. He was a monster. He deserved to die.

"Jason." Dick touched my shoulder and I dropped the crowbar. He must have come back when I wasn't listening. The Joker shivered.

I pulled off the hood and looked down at the creature before me. He was cut open and bloodied. He looked helpless, like how I was. He left me to die. He left my father to find me after I had already left the world. I felt no sympathy, maybe which made me a monster too.

I fell into Dick's arms and cried. I sobbed and heaved with all my might. He held me close and buried his head in my hair. He clutched to my back with his long fingers.

"He wasn't there!" I hiccupped, "I died and no one was there!"

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay." He cooed to me.

We stayed like that for a long time, me crying on his shoulder and him comforting me. The slight beeping from the other side of the room was what finally roused us. We pulled Joker's unconscious body outside the warehouse and on Dick's bike.

"I'll take him to Bludhaven. I'll be back tonight." He wiped a stray tear from my cheek, "Go to the cave. Tell Bruce that he is dead. Maybe this can finally be over." He looked to the horizon before getting on the bike and speeding away.

I stayed for a little longer at the base of the hill. I watched the warehouse blow up, leaving nothing in the wreckage. I drove away, leaving the scene of my death.

Back in the bat cave was a different story. The room had an air of hope, something I still hadn't gained back after the Joker beat it out of me so many years ago.

Bruce stood over her body with a pained expression on his face. I walked over and took in the scene.

Alfred was doing his best, under the circumstances. She needed help. Real help. She was broken and beat. At least she would see hopeful faces when she woke, something I never got.

"Jason?" Bruce looked over at me, "Where is he?" I tried not to look like I was lying.

"I'd assume, somewhere under all the rubble. At least, most of him." I was exhausted. Every cell seemed to be shaking from this day. Bruce nodded, hopefully not hearing the false note in my voice.

"Thank you." He looked down at me, as if seeing the tears that were falling freely only a few minutes before with Dick. I nodded and left, dragging myself up the stairs and to the bathroom.

I took a scalding hot shower and leaned against the tile, trying to scrub the invisible blood of my hands. I ended up just sitting in the shower naked under the falling rain water.

_I died alone._

_I died alone. _

_I died alone._

_Alone._

_Alone. _

_Alone._

Dick found me a few hours later, in my semi-conscious state. He dressed me and carried me to the bedroom like I was a child again. He lay with me, twirling his finger in my hair while I shivered while pain twisted in my gut.

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "I didn't know this would hurt you so much." I just curled into his warm body to protect myself from the nightmares that were sure to come.

_I died alone._

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Never, ever, while writing anything, have I ever cried for a character. I think it is because everyone fears dying alone. But, I just want to say that this chapter has really resonated with me. It was probably the most difficult thing I have ever had to write. I kept going back and adding things and taking things back. I tried to capture the emotion that he would have had when he died and it was just heartbreaking to imagine. I'm sorry if any of you have emotional reactions like I did writing it. It really struck a nerve somewhere. Thank you anyway. The story isn't done just yet. I've got a few more ideas swirling around in my head for the next few chapters.**


	4. Chapter 4

Tim walked up the stairs to my room. He was curious why he hadn't heard from Bruce in a few days. He usually wasn't this distant unless something was really bothering him.

The house was eerily quiet for eleven o'clock in the morning on a Sunday. Tim didn't feel alone though, he felt the opposite. As if the house was crowded with extra bodies. He couldn't figure it out though.

He heard breathing from my room and walked in. If the surprise of seeing his newly-resurrected from the dead brother wasn't shock enough, it was that I was cuddled up in Dick's arms.

"What the _hell_?" He shouted, waking me up from my slumber. Dick groaned and rolled over to look at Tim. Before this, I had not met the little replacement.

I jumped up into a defensive stance and looked into his blue eyes written in shock. He was just like a miniature Dick. Tim looked at me with a gaping mouth and then at Dick.

"We have to talk." Dick said calmly, putting his hands up. "Things have changed."

"Oh, so I'm gone for two days and now you guys are harboring a murderer?" His shock turned to anger, "What else did I miss?"

"He helped us save Catwoman from the Joker. She is down in the cave with Bruce." Dick tried to explain. Tim ran out of the doorway. "Tim wait!"

I heard the front door slam and he was gone. Dick ran down after him yelling. Bruce wouldn't hear. He was too busy with Selina. I walked down around the manor before joining him in the cave. I smelled death before I saw her. My body went rigid and I held my might to stop from fleeing.

Bruce stood over her with Alfred. She had some kind of chemical being pumped into her veins. Her entire body was black and blue with terrible cuts littering the surface. But, she was breathing.

"Jason." Bruce scratched his head. "Thank you, for saving her." I was surprised but tried not to show it. I shrugged.

He went back to her and seemed to ignore my presence. I took the opportunity to take the red motorcycle from the cave and drive out. I drove up the trail with the wind whipping my face. I found myself following Nightwing's trail.

Tim was good at covering his tracks, but Dick's fresh tire skids were more obvious. I became worried when the tracks became more frantic, as if Tim hadn't just run away. It was more like her was desperately trying to find him.

I found that the tracks led me to crime alley. I could hear a motorcycle weaving it's way cautiously behind the buildings. I idled in the old alley until Dick skidded next to me. He was breathing hard, as if there was a chase.

"Tim went off." He tried to catch his breath.

"Yea I figured that much." I felt a stab of pain when Dick spoke of him with such worry. He glared at me from his motorcycle.

"He couldn't have gone very far on foot, but I think he went after someone." He put his hand up to his ear as if listening to a voice in his head. "Got it."

He sped away and I did my best to follow.

"He's over by the docks watching a shipment." He put his hand to his ear again as we drove along. "He's been watching for a while."

We drove faster toward the docks. I didn't even know why I was there. I had done what Dick asked, I saved Selina. And why did I even care what this kid got himself into? He was my replacement after all.

We stopped on the far side of the docks and left the bikes there. We crept toward the sounds of movement until we heard a scuffle break out.

Dick heard it first. But when his body stiffened in absolute terror, my mind processed what the click could have been. I should have known. After all, I had become a pretty good marksman with my own two Glocks.

Dick jumped into plain view and began running to the scene. I saw three guys and Tim in the middle. It should have been an easy fight for him. Somehow, one of the guys got Tim pinned up against a crate with his legs dangling off the ground.

Dick ran toward one of the men with his back turned toward us. But I saw another man come from behind a crate before he did. The man tackled Dick and sent him sprawling to the ground. The man pulled out a gun and set it on Dick on the ground.

I had to do something, Tim was losing air fast. I crept to the side where the man was holding him up. The odds were not in my favor. Four guys, two with guns drawn. And they were drawn on my family.

Woa, where did that come from? I never considered Dick family, even when I was alive. And Tim, well I was just not fond of him at all so far.

I did my best to crawl on top of the crate where Tim was held up. I took the only weapon I had from my sleeve. A long knife that I knew how to handle from all the training with Bruce. Before I could think twice, I launched it at the man holding Tim.

He screamed and dropped Tim while his shoulder sputtered blood on the pavement. I leapt down, with Tim behind my back. The two men with guns turned on me, giving Nightwing enough time to take one of them down and throw the gun as far as he could.

"Go." I yelled to Tim as I jumped for the only man left with the gun. Tim went after one of the unarmed guys and I saw Nightwing go after the other one. I pulled my knife from the now unconscious man's shoulder and flipped it in my hand like a dagger. The man took his aim at me.

I saw Tim flip other man over his shoulder and run toward me.

"NO!" Nightwing and I shouted in sync as we saw the gunman's eyes flash with fear. He pointed at Tim, only a few feet away and pulled the trigger. I was faster than the bullet.

I leapt and knocked Tim out of the way onto the pavement next to me. Before my feet hit the ground I was knocked back into a crate. I couldn't feel what hit me. But suddenly everything felt warm. I was thrown back against the crates and I sunk to my knees, falling backward.

I was on my side, a pool of warmth spreading around me. I couldn't breathe, it seemed like eyery time I tried something came up in my throat instead of air. I coughed the sticky wetness on the pavement.

"NO!" Nightwing tackled the gunman and wrestled the gun from him. Tim crawled over to me.

"Jason?" He nudged me. I sputtered. I tried to tell the kid that it was fine, but a gurgling in-human noise came out with another small pool of blood. His eyed went from scared child to hero. He was stronger than I was at his age. "Look at me."

He spoke with so much authority, it was like talking to Bruce. I locked eyes with him. I tried to stay conscious for him, but my eyelids drooped.

"Listen. You are not going to die. Don't even think about it." I saw tears form at the corners of his eyes. "Bruce needs you."

"Oh God." Dick knelt down over me and ripped off my jacket. He took the knife I had dropped and cut off my shirt. My chest heaved and looked like it was pouring little rivers. Dick bunched up the shirt and pressed it into the wound. "You're going to be okay Jason."

"Look at me." Tim pulled my face and locked his eyes on mine, "Jason!"

My eyes felt heavy. I couldn't stay up much longer. I knew that I needed to try for them. I needed to try for Bruce.

"No, No, NO!" Dick yelled pressing harder at the wound, only managing to cover his hands in blood. I looked over at his face. He looked at me with tears streaming down freely. "Don't go Jason!"

I looked up at Tim's face again. His mouth was in a firm line. At least if I died, I wasn't alone this time. It may have been my imagination but it seemed that they actually were scared of me dying again.

"NO!" Tim and Dick seemed to yell together as I felt my eyes roll back in my skull and the darkness washed over me.


	5. Chapter 5

_And now I'm floating right above my coffin, as it closes I look down. I see a sigh as she's crying on my mother's shoulder. I look up in the sky and see the gates to heaven open, something's wrong, is this destiny or am I going home? What will happen to my soul? Will I come back? I don't know. Will you meet me when it's over, let me know. You can meet me here in heaven, don't you ever let me go. _

I didn't know if I was awake or dead. I felt no steady rise and fall of my chest. No heartbeat pumping through my soul. I felt my mind and my consciousness.

_Stupid! Stupid. You wasted whatever chance at life for the kid. The kid who replaced you. You were given a second chance and now look at you._

My mind kept on chugging. It was alive, but it couldn't help me locate my body. It was as if I was just a conscious stream, with no purpose.

_This isn't like last time. Last time you were just gone, nothing. And then it seemed like moments later, you awoke. This is different._

_Maybe because I'm not coming back this time. _I argued with myself.

_Quit bathing in self-pity, you've done enough of that these years._ Jeez! Who let this guy in? If I was dead, I would not like spending eternity with me and my self-righteous side.

_Not even. More like pissed side. You gave up your second shot at life for some kid. You used to be tough. Why'd you go crawling back to the bat-family anyway?_

_You know why, I missed them._

_Well at least you can admit it. You're pussy-whipped._

_Bruce was like a father to me, all I am, is because of him. _Asshole Jason scoffed at me.

_Yea and look where that got you. Dead. Twice. Good parenting huh?_

I ignored him.

**Tim's POV**

Jason lay on the table next to Selena while Alfred and Bruce called in a few favors from surgeons they knew. I stayed by his bedside, watching him. I kept looking for any sign that he was still in there, kicking. But there was none. His face was deathly pale and so was Dick's.

In fact, they looked practically like the same man except Dick was, well, conscious. Dick's eyes darted up and down Jason's body as mine did, looking for signs on alertness.

Jason was long gone by the time I became Robin. His costume hung in the bat-cave as a reminder to all of us that this wasn't a game. That people got hurt, people got lost. Bruce never talked about Jason's death or about how it affected him. Dick swore that he thought he heard Bruce crying during one night a few years ago, but that was the extent of his emotional capabilities.

The most emotion I have seen from him is when I will walk down and see him staring at the costume, as if looking into it. Whenever I have gotten myself into a bad situation and he has to help me or stitch my wounds, he gets a faraway look and a hard-set jaw. Sometimes in the moment of fighting when I am struck down, he will look at me with fear. A fear that is unearthly. A fear of the unknown and the pain of what he has been through. I felt he needed me. He needed a Robin to keep him sane.

I never thought about how all of that might have affected Jason. He came back from the dead to take vengeance on the city that killed his innocence. He found his so called family against him and the own man who sought to protect him had not even welcomed him back into the world. He had replaced him.

It must have been heartbreaking.

I knew that somewhere deep down inside him, that he had kindness and compassion. I just never thought that I'd be the own to evoke it from him. He must have hated me when he came back, to find himself replaced like a pair of shoes. He had served his purpose and worn out. When he broke, it seemed like at Bruce had done was gone out and got a new pair.

I had not known him in life. I wish I had. Bruce had told me stories about Jason's adventures. He seemed like a good guy. Nightwing had known him better. All I had known was that Bruce's past was back with a murderous rage.

Yet, somehow, that murderous rage had saved my life. I wanted to thank him, or at least apologize for calling him out when I first got here. I wanted him to wake because I felt guilty, had I not been careless and stupid, Jason would still be alive.

He sacrificed himself for this family. He gave himself up to the unknown again. And for what? So that the people who were cold and heartless could live together again, as if he had never even come back?

I wouldn't let myself cry. I didn't know him, I had no right. But I felt connected to him. He had saved me. He had given me a second shot at life, wasting his. He didn't deserve this. Not to die, twice.

I held his cold hand and tried to will him to wake, for us. We needed him back. Nightwing needed him. Bruce needed him. I needed him.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**So the first paragraph are lyrics to a song that remind me of Jason, so I threw it in here. It is This Love, This Hate by Hollywood Undead. Pretty much all of Hollywood and Linkin Park send me into a Jason Todd crying fit.  
**

**Oh and, he isn't dead so don't worry. I don't really think i made it clear, but yea, he's not gone totally. :) Please review and follow and favorite!  
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	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

**So I just want to thank everyone who had helped me with this story. **

**LuVySoNy**

**READINGhearts17**

**XiaoXiaoTYY**

**Dextra2**

**Lin36bffbecca**

**ChiChi-O**

**And all of the other reviewers. This is the final chapter of the story. I have had such an amazing time exploring this dynamic of Jason and the Bat family. Honestly, since writing this, he has become my favorite character in comics. This chapter is bittersweet and it tied everything together in for me. The song is "I'm Coming Home" by Skylar Grey. I hope you enjoy! :D**

* * *

It could have been months or years before I awoke. It felt my mind floating back to me in pieces. In the very end I could feel where I was. I could feel my body. And best of all, I could feel pain. Pain was a good thing; it meant you were still alive.

_I'm coming home._

I could feel warm bodies around me. The warmth of friends. It's not like I suddenly loved them or anything. They still screwed me over. But it was a terrible thing that happened when I died. It was a real tragedy. I'd often wonder why it had to befall me. I was not a bad man. But I realized sometimes life doesn't come at you with a plan. Sometimes it just hits you on the head with shit and you have to deal.

_I'm coming home._

Bruce was always my father, Dick my brother. It had always been that way. Even now, they were family weather I wanted them or not. Hell I took the bullet for a kid that took my place. If that didn't show that I wasn't a merciless killer I didn't know what would. If it didn't show that I had a soul I didn't know what would.

_Tell the world I'm coming home._

Bruce tried. He tried his best to save me. I'd felt that I wasn't worth him losing control over, or him killing the Joker over. In reality it was the opposite. Bruce had shown that he loved my by not killing the Joker. He had honored me and not become the man who had taken me away. He would have become a murderer. He would have been no better than my killer.

_Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday._

Maybe I had just been hormonal from the dip in the Lazarus Pit. Maybe this anger inside was nothing but madness. It felt real. But, there had never been a part inside of me that had anger I couldn't control. I was never perfect like the rest of them. I was different.

_And though my kingdom awaits._

I was never going to be the perfect piece in their home. That is why I died in the first place. I was immature and angry. I was never meant to be Robin, it was not my destiny. However, it was my destiny to be a part of this family. This family was the one I never had. This family accepted me and gave me semblance of love and acceptance. This family needed me in it. Bruce needed me.

_They've forgiven my mistakes. _

I would always be Red Hood. I would always be Jason, with all of my mistakes and flaws. I would wander far and long, not thinking of my roots and the Bat family at all. But I would know that they made me who I was today. They gave me my life and I owed them everything for their acceptance and kindness.

_I'm coming home._

I could feel myself coming back to reality. I could almost taste the fresh air on my tongue. The surface was closer. My body broke the boundary and I felt my face hit the cool atmosphere. I took my first conscious gulp of clean oxygen and filled my lungs with the spark of life.

_I'm coming home._

I opened my eyes to the world.


End file.
